Pythagorean Pentacle

The term "Pentacle" derives from the Greek word "pentagrammos," meaning "five lines." The pentagram, a five-pointed star formed by five straight lines, has been a symbol of significance since antiquity, appearing in various cultures and traditions.

A Kabbali.stic six-])ointed star with an eajrle at the ape.x and a bull and a lion under tbe face of a man; a my.stic symbol adopted by tbe Eastern and Kniiuin Christians, who place these animals beside the fouiEvanfrelists. Pythia or I'ljlhoinss ((h-.). IModern dictionaries inform us that the term means one who delivered the oracles at the temple of Delphi, and "any female supposed to have the spirit of divination in her — a witch" (Webster). This is iieither true, just nor correct. On the authority of Iambi ichus. Plntarch and others, a Pythia was a priestess chosen amonp: tbe soisifiirs of tbe poorer classes, and placed in a temple wIkm-c oracular powers were exercised. There she had a room secluded from all but the chief Ilierophant and Seei-. and once admitted, was. like a nun, lost to the world. Sittin<r on a tripod or brass placed over a fissure in the jrround, through which arose intoxicating vapours, these subterranean exhalations, penetrating her whole system, produced tbe prophetic mania, in which abnormal state she delivered oracles. Aristophanes in "Vjestas" I., reg. 28, calls tbe Pythia tuntriloqua vates or tbe "ventriloquial prophetess'', on account of her stonHich-\oicx\ Tbe ancients placed tbe soul of man (the lower Manas) or bis personal self-consciousness, in the pit of bis stomach. We find in the fourth verse of tbe second NahhdiKfiishta hymn of the Brahmans: "Hear, 0 sons of the gods, one who speaks through bis name (ndhha), for be hails you in your dwellings!" This is a modern somnambulic phenomenon. Tbe navel was regarded in antiquity as "tbe circle of tb(^ sun", the seat of divine internal light. Therefore was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, the city of Dclphus, the womb or abdomen — while tbe seat of the temple was called tbe omphalos, navel. As well-known, a number of mesmerized subjects can read letters, hear, smell and see through that part of their body. In GLOSSAKY 249 India there exists to this day a belief (also among the Parsis) that

The Pythagorean Pentacle, a symbol steeped in the lore of ancient Greece and embraced by various esoteric traditions, offers a potent visual metaphor for the seeker attuned to deeper currents of existence. Pythagoras himself, a figure shrouded in both historical fact and mythic accretion, is credited with imbuing geometry with philosophical and spiritual significance. For him, numbers were not merely abstract quantities but the very essence of reality, the underlying structure of the cosmos. The pentagram, with its inherent proportional beauty, particularly its connection to the golden ratio, was seen as a manifestation of this divine harmony.

In the Hermetic tradition, the pentacle is often understood as a representation of the five elements—spirit, earth, air, fire, and water—and their dynamic interplay. It symbolizes the microcosm, the human being, as a reflection of the macrocosm, the universe. Each point can be seen as a gateway, a point of connection to these fundamental forces, and their arrangement speaks to a balanced and integrated existence. This is not merely an intellectual exercise but a call to embodied understanding, a recognition that the principles governing the vast expanse of the heavens are also at play within the human heart.

The adoption of the pentagram by various traditions speaks to its universal resonance. In Kabbalistic thought, it can represent the five books of the Torah, a divine revelation shaping human life, or the divine order of the Sephiroth. For Christian mystics, it might evoke the five wounds of Christ, a symbol of suffering and redemption, or the five virtues that guide the soul. Its reappearance in modern non-dual thought suggests a continuous thread of inquiry into the nature of reality, where the five points converging to a single center symbolize the ultimate unity underlying apparent multiplicity. The practice associated with such symbols often involves contemplation, meditation, and the visualization of their inherent energies, aiming to align the individual consciousness with the cosmic order they represent. It invites us to see the sacred geometry not just in ancient texts but in the very fabric of our being and the world around us.